Stormy Springtime by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels [NEELS, BETTY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction
Published: 2011-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

He sat back in his chair, the mug in his hand. “Mrs James and her small daughter Nancy are coming at half past nine. I’ve given Miss Stan dish the morning off. Mrs James is young and, for want of a better word, frivolous.

Nancy has a sarcoma which I’m almost certain can be cured, but her mother is going to take the news badly. I shall want you to cope with her—you have phlegm and common sense. “

Meg took a sip of coffee. Compliments, if one could call them that, were flying. She said quietly, “Very well, Professor Culver. Would you like some more coffee?”

When she had fetched it he asked,

“Are you happy here, Meg?”

“Yes, thank you.” She finished her own coffee and sat without fidgeting, ready to answer politely if questioned. It was quiet in the room and their silence lasted rather too long. The Professor put down his cup and she heard his sigh.

“Will you tell Nurse that I’ll be back at nine-twenty?”

She collected the mugs and went back to the little kitchen, and soon heard him leave. She dearly wanted to know why he had been up during the night.

She would find out from Miss Stan dish after their dinner hour; meanwhile there was nothing to do until Mary Giles arrived.

She received the news of the Professor’s disturbed night with a shake of her head.

“He’s a consultant, love, and a lecturer too, travels the world.. and he’s an expert if ever there was one, yet if there is a hitch he’ll think nothing of spending

hours at the hospital. There are Mrs James and Nancy coming too, they were here just before you came and he told her then that there would be tests on the child and it might be necessary for her to have some hospital treatment. She wouldn’t listen, of course. The child’s as good as gold, but the mother…”

Mrs Giles rolled her eyes upwards.

“And Miss Stan dish at the dentist!”

“Yes, well, the Professor said I was to look after Mrs James.”

“Rather you than me, love!”

The Professor arrived soon afterwards, immaculate in his dark grey suit and Italian silk tie and looking none the worse for his sleepless night. Hard on his heels came Mrs James and Nancy.

Reflecting later upon her morning while she ate her sandwiches and fed Nelson, Meg hoped there would never be another one like it. Nancy had been a model patient, but her mother had at first refused to listen to the Professor, and after a patient ten minutes or so on his part, had declared roundly that no one in her family or her husband’s had ever had cancer and she wasn’t going to believe him. “Nancy will be a cripple—you say it’s one of her legs.” She burst into angry tears.

The Professor said sternly,

“There is no reason to suppose that radiotherapy will turn Nancy into a cripple, Mrs James.”

It was then that Meg was summoned to bring tea. Which she did, and was told to stay. She poured out for Mrs James, murmured soothingly and melted into a corner.

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